OrganicJen
-
Posts
914 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Content Type
Profiles
Forums
Events
Blogs
Classifieds
Store
Posts posted by OrganicJen
-
-
Nothing that money can buy, but it would be an amazing New Year's present if the pregnancy test I plan to take next week is positive. Realistically, I know the odds aren't great but there are still plenty of women who conceive naturally at almost 41 so I can hope!
I naturally and even a bit unexpectedly conceived at 40. Good luck!
-
3
-
-
We do a current events thing every week and the one we did based on this article from the UN was one of the most interesting in some time. It allowed for research and discussion on the founding of our country as well as class inequality and also how media can shape beliefs. We may even continue it into another week because it brought up so many interesting areas to research and learn about. I love hearing my child's take on things like this and his ideas on how to improve the problems brought up in the article. http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=58300#.Wj2mnXNlDqA
Eta...it also links to the actual full statement which is interesting to read as well.
-
2
-
-
Usually I get a card that my son makes for me or something like that. I'm hoping for that and maybe some time to relax.
-
ARGH!
Our cabin is at 5400 feet, and although I can make cookies there, meringue pie crusts rise twice as much as at home while they are in the oven and then catastrophically deflate to a gummy mess while they are cooling.
Got any tips for me? I already tried using extra large eggs instead of large ones. No help.
I wish I had a suggestion for meringue but I don't. I've found some solutions for bread so that it's better but it's still not like it was at sea level. I've read the thing about more egg, also read less sugar, higher temp so it doesn't have time to over rise, but I've not experimented with meringue.
-
Same here! Life changes.
FWIW, it's only women who live the longest in Okinawa. Sardinia seems to have that spot for men. Ikaria gets the top billing for least dementia and perhaps heart disease. I like gleaning from all of them when figuring out my life, but I'm certainly not strict on it. I like eating foods I like taste-wise. I can't see the need to give anything up, esp since even in those areas not everyone makes it to old age. We merely cut back (significantly) on those that aren't as healthy and we have upped all the other positive traits.
https://bluezones.com/live-longer-better/original-blue-zones/#section-2
My tastes expanded a ton merely by moving out of my childhood home. We were raised on meat (beef, chicken, pork) and potatoes for the most part - white bread too. Once I got to college I found a whole world of foods I hadn't been exposed to. Traveling brought even more. There's a ton I enjoy now. It's weird heading back home where life still revolves around what meat is being served and white bread sandwiches. We bring our own bread to have better tasting options. I'm ok with meat and some of the dishes are even nostalgic, so definitely not a problem - just not the way we live at home. At home we have Taco (salad) Thursday at a local Mexican place, Pho Friday at a local Korean place and oodles of dishes of our own we create including things like kale, lima beans, broccoli, etc, that I just never grew up with.
My kids eat pretty much anything and always have. They ditched kids menus at restaurants while still in their young elementary ages (who wants chicken fingers over and over again???). Some like more than I do. I don't like crabs, sushi, or heavily spiced (hot spice) anything.
But my sister? She still eats the same things (or less) that we grew up with. She will say "yuck" at anything new I suggest without even trying it. I have no idea what makes our personalities so different.
I aim for as much variety as possible to hopefully get a variety of nutrients. I do the same thing where I try to take what positives I can from each study about which food is healthy etc. I'm really addicted to growing heirloom veggies honestly and have found so many more veggies I love by experimenting with less known varieties. In some ways I think I condition my brain to love veggies by how I have made them a large part of my life. This time of year my new seed catalogs arive and I start dreaming about and marking the pages of which varieties to try next. Then in spring it's fun to plan what goes where and how much to grow of this or that and what plants are good companions to plant near each other. Then when things are growing it's really exciting to watch their development and see how beautiful some veggies are. So I think after all that, when I eat it my brain is already telling me I like it lol.
-
4
-
-
Yeah he'll eat some fruit. So there is that. (Oddly I hate fruit and so does my DH.)
My other kid will eat anything. He once wanted to try the cat's food. LOL So ya know.. he'd eat seaweed and crayons no problem too.
Lol...my toddler tries to feed me things like that all the time.
-
It's hard to know what kids will eat or not it can be frustrating. With my son I would have him help with the gardening and I would talk about what different veggies were and say how he's allowed to pick leaves from this plant or pods from that plant whenever he wants and he just kind of started eating a variety of veggies on his own while playing outside and I then had him help pick the varieties for each new crop. He used to hate salad but when sampling things in the garden he tried the Merlot lettuce we grow a lot of and he liked it so I made him a salad with that and other things he loves in it and now he loves salad if I make it with his favorite varieties. Maybe part of it was the merlot lettuce is red and not green, who knows. I prefer the taste of it over other lettuce myself by far though. The toddler loves raw peas and beans...especially Lincoln garden peas and Dragon Tongue Wax beans (these are really pretty). If he is outside in summer he is always carrying around a bean or handful of peas. But not all kids would be that way at all I know, I'm sure a lot of it is luck really.
-
Oh, or those tasty pretzels you can get at Target and at food stands sometimes that have the gloppy orange cheese stuff. Oh, I used to love those.
And chicken tenders! And mozzarella sticks. and the number 2 burger from Sonic with the onions and the pickles and the mustard.
And bacon cheeseburgers.
Lol!
-
Maybe. I think people tend to eat what they like eating. It's not much of a sacrifice for someone who doesn't like meat all that much or is rather lukewarm about it to go vegan or vegetarian. I love meat. I eat a lot less these days for no reason other than for whatever reason I find I don't want as much, but I still like eating it. I don't know what in hell I'd eat otherwise. I eat lots of veg, but I don't eat much in the way of grains soooo...what else is there? Fake soy meat? No thanks.
One thing that happened with me was that my tastes for certain foods expanded a ton as I started growing more and more foods. I eat so many more things now that I never liked in the past. Part of it I think is I find freshly picked food from my garden so much better tasting, and also I can grow the specific varieties I like best. My son eats so many veggies that I doubt he would have tried if we weren't growing them. It's a challenge sometimes to harvest certain things before he gets to them. He loves snacking on basil leaves for instance but I need a certain amount for a batch of pesto and I have to compete with him for it lol.
-
2
-
-
That's awful...I believe it though as I've learned that people are not as honest as I used to believe. I was traveling once and accidentally bought fruit at a stand and it had stickers on it from a supermarket.People seem to have the opinion of farmer's markets as being these wholesome food utopias.
I have a friend who grows produce for the farmer's market and claims that a lot of the produce sold there is not grown by locals but purchased in bulk at wholesale places. Maybe even Costco.
But, they jack up the price and people think it is local and therefore, healthier.
-
One of mine knows exactly what it's for and uses it waaaaay too many times a day for entertainment.
Lol!
-
Finally I at least decided on what to eat Monday. We settled on lasagna this year! It's progress at least. Nothing is wrapped yet though.
-
1
-
-
People grow veg here all year round, it gets down to about -10 to 15 in January and February. That's under glass or plastic but without and electricity or heat - like straw-bales and plastic sheeting or windows over top.
It's not what I'd call varied - you're really growing some hardy veg like kale that supplements your roots and stored food. And if you start winter veg early so they are about grown when winter starts, they will stay nice in the ground in these little grow-beds. They won't actually grow any more, it is too cold, but they will be very edible, sometimes even nicer than before the cold.
You're right, some veggies get sweeter from the cold. We keep certain veggies in the ground for winter and just dig up as we need them. In fact I did that today for some beets for dinner.
-
One member of my family can't figure out what the silver lever on the side of the toilet is for.
-
10
-
-
Ack...not ready at all lol.
-
I do the same thing. I just love books so much I can't resist LOL.
-
1
-
-
Are they as nutritious? I have to wonder. I read a bit about it and I guess it depends on the added nutrients. When trying to cut costs, how do I know they aren't skimping in that department? KWIM? Is there any regulation on that?
I'm not an expert on this but I can speak from my personal experience and knowledge. What I have found is that the regulation comes directly from the plants. So whether growing a plant in the ground or in hydroponics, if it has a nutrient deficiency or other problem it will definitely tell me. There are a variety of signs and symptoms of a less than healthy or nutrient deficient plant and I wouldn't ever be able to skimp on the health of my plants because it decreases their yield or they are sick looking icky plants I wouldn't want to eat. So there really isn't a way that I know of to cut costs by skimping on nutrients but still get a product in the end that is worth growing. So the way we have cut costs was switching to non circulating hydroponics because it is so much more cost effective in every way but still provides wonderful produce. Traditional hydroponics requires more elaborate and more expensive equipment to circulate the water and nutrient solution, it requires more water, it requires more nutrient solution, it requires electricity, and it requires more work. Non circulating hydroponics only requires basic, simple to make equipment, no electricity, less water, much less nutrient solution, less time, and way less work on my part. With non circulating hydroponics I can typically set up a new planting in a table with it's water and nutrients, and then I typically don't have to do a thing to it until I start harvesting, including never having to add more nutrients or water. So that is the only real way I know of to dramatically cut costs with hydroponics. From my experience, if I were to skimp on nutrients to save money, the plants would show it and overall would be a waste because they would have yellow leaves or weird spots on their leaves or just would fail to thrive etc.
-
3
-
-
No no...I mean I don't make stuff like dough or smoothies. I eat stuff as is mostly (in terms of vegetables). I mean more concentrated stuff is higher in carbs and sugars. I sometimes eye those dehydrated veg snacks they have at the store, but then I see the carb count. Too high.
I eat low carb.
I know...goes against my baking fest I just posted about. I do not eat the stuff though. Ok..I had ONE cookie and my blood sugar crashed shortly after and I felt like crap. The stuff just does not like me!
Oh I see what you mean. We don't really find that an issue. A lot of the things we dehydrate we eat by using in soups and stews with extra liquids in the winter so by the time we eat it in a recipe it isn't more concentrated it's just rehydrated back to normal. We snack on some things while still dry and it is easier to overdo those kind of snacks for sure.
-
2
-
-
It is. A few months ago NBC ran a story about how one indoor hydroponic farm was closing down because they couldn't compete cost-wise with the regular ole farms. Not enough people were willing to pay for it and I believe subsidies were ending (if my memory is correct). I wondered at the time if getting on the news changed anything or not. I guess I'm still wondering now that it's been rekindled in my mind!
Cost is indeed a factor for MANY when they choose what they are going to eat. Cost coupled with their taste buds. Many people are on tight budgets. We've only loosened ours some now that we're empty nesting and not feeding three boys. Having a higher income now than we did in the past helps too. One can eat rice and beans cheaply (we did at times - enjoying it - still do once in a while too), but sticking with that alone is hardly a scientifically nutritious diet.
This is one reason non circulating hydroponics is becoming more popular. It is a lot cheaper and less work than traditional hydroponics.
-
2
-
-
I've never added sugar to my foods to dehydrate them. I just for instance, slice up a sweet pepper then dehydrate it and store them in a jar. Or with greens I just dehydrate them and use my food processor to make them a powder and store in a jar to add to things like pasta dough or smoothies or soups. Or dehydrate tomatoes and store in the freezer in bags. I can use them as a substitute for sun dried tomatoes in recipes in winter.I'd love to find something that would give us a better chance at having a successful harvest. Because year after year I am frustrated with that aspect. But I also don't really want to spend too much money on it either.
I don't know what I'd do with dehydrated foods. I avoid them because they tend to have too many carbs and sugar.
Eta...although we snack on the dehydrated tomatoes all the time, they are sort of like a fruit leather, kind of chewy, so they often don't make it into recipes lol.
-
1
-
-
Yeah we were on the fence with getting the panels on our roof. It's dark for weeks on end in winter. I just cannot fathom this saving any money. I might be ok with breaking even, but I'm not even sure if that would happen. And then if I get the panels, will this increase the value of my house and raise my already insanely high taxes?! So given those two things, it's completely uninteresting.
We have been hoping the cost goes down so we can get panels, they are still so expensive unfortunately.
-
2
-
-
I think a big factor for many is cost.
I'm sure that's true but I'd love to see all the Wal-Mart's and Costco stores around us with food growing on their huge flat roofs.
-
1
-
-
Not to mention that there needs to be sunlight to collect solar power. Short days, snow, fog, etc. all reduce any chance of solar power.
I get that, but I also think that there are many places where it would work and would be beneficial so it's better to have it in some places than none at least.
-
yeah, the rural Midwest cannot be called progressive, not matter what kind of metric you apply
Lol!
-
1
-
Please pray for his pain to go away
in The Chat Board
Posted
If it's that bad I might consider medical attention.